Features

The blank look I reflected back the German chap handing out the keys at the launch of the second generation new Mini Cooper S might have had something to do with the slight language barrier, but more likely was a reaction to being told that there were no red Minis whilst being stood in full view of approximately 30 of the little buggers.

"But what about one of those?" I asked quietly, scanning around for any groups of PR people guffawing. "I'm sorry, sir, but we have a blue Mini for you. We did not know that you wanted a red Mini, and those cars are already reserved."

It wouldn't have been quite so much of an issue, except that I knew that we had an old-shape Mini lurking around the metaphorical corner, ready to compare and contrast, and it was exactly the right shade of red. And that Top Gear had deliberately asked for a red launch car so that changes from old to new - or lack of - wouldn't be masked by a random paint job.

The poor desk monitor must have seen something in my face. Possibly to avoid the small jets of steam starting to whistle from my ears and dangerously rising colour, he disappeared round the back, spoke to someone wearing another Mini T-shirt, pointed at me (I was pointing pointedly at a car park awash with red and waggling my eyebrows in a meaningful way), did some more arm waving and then returned.

"Sir, we have a red Mini for you!" he exclaimed, picking a key at random from the 30 or so red Mini Cooper S jobs behind the desk. "I know," I said. "Thank you."

Small disaster averted, it actually took a little while to find our Mini amongst the phalanx lined up in Barcelona. Once there, it was my first chance to see in the metal the changes wrought over the previous-generation Cooper S, a car that I spent my own money on three years ago. At first you struggle to clock the morphed bits.

Yes, the headlights are different, and there's a difference to the detailing, but after that you suspect change, but can't really put your finger on it. Did the old Mini have the same shape wheelarches? Did the old one have such a strong line over the bonnet? Your senses tell you that it's all subtly different, and then you start to confuse yourself by trying to work out if you're just looking at it from a funny perspective.

To be honest, there's only one way to really appreciate the differences between the new version and the previous one - to stand them side by side. And, luckily, I know just where to lay my hands on a previous-generation Mini in a village just outside town. And a red one at that. How very fortunate...

An hour later and the two cars are parked on a hill basking in wonderful Spanish sunshine. And the question is still a valid one; what's changed? Well, according to the engineering specifications, everything. According to your eyes, not much.

There is a slight scale thing going on; the second generation imprints a feeling of a little extra mass on your eyes, but only when the two cars are bang-on side-by-side or nose to tail. The new car is only some 60mm longer than the old one and barely any wider, but the places in which it has gained the length make it seem more robust, just a percentage bigger.